ZFC consignment finally cleared

Published: 04 February 2014

The Zimbabwe Fertiliser Company has finally taken delivery of its 12 500 tonnes of ammonium nitrate fertiliser valued at about $7.5 million caught up in congestion at Beira port since December last year, a company official said.

ZFC managing director Richard Dafana said the consignment arrived at the port in December last year, but the fertiliser could not be transported into the country due to logistical problems..

"So far the company has received 70 percent of the products.

"The biggest challenge on the port was the issue of congestion where the ship could not get the landing space to get the goods cleared.

"However, we are now happy that the consignment has been cleared because it took long," Dr Dafana said.

He said the ship that was carrying the fertiliser had failed to secure a berth to offload the fertiliser as there were many other vessels offloading goods to various destinations in the region.

Dr Dafana said the fertiliser which was imported last October was the second consignment of AN fertiliser imported from Ukraine to boost local supplies.

The group imported 15,000 tonnes from the same country that arrived in November.

Dr Dafana said some of the remaining fertiliser is already on the way and is expected in the country anytime this month.

He said liquidity challenges and late repayments of debts had been affecting the company's ability to bring in raw materials for local production of fertilisers hence it has resorted to importation of already manufactured fertilisers.

The company is currently operating at 25 percent capacity and Dr Dafana, however, could not disclose the amount required by the company to produce the fertilisers at full capacity.

The country requires between 150,000 tonnes and 200,000 tonnes of AN fertilisers for the 2013/14 agriculture season but so far local companies have only managed to supply just over 100,000 tonnes.

ZFC is a public company owned by three shareholders, Chemplex Corporation Ltd (Zimbabwe), TA Holdings Ltd (Zimbabwe) and YZ Holdings (Zimbabwe).

Through various investment vehicles, Chemplex owns 50 percent of the shares in ZFC.
- chronicle